Clocks and fries...

My father's clock, once I brought it home, was running crazy fast.  A part of me was frustrated, because I paid a significant amount of money to have it repaired.  However, the repair took a month longer than expected and the owner has been inundated with folk bringing in their clocks after an article about the clock shop appeared in the paper.  It is the only clock shop in a several state region.  So, I Googled.

I learned that, on a pendulum clock, if it is running slowly, you need to turn the nut on the bottom of the pendulum clockwise.  You know, I find that direction rather unhelpful!  What is clockwise on a nut that is sitting horizontally on the bottom of a pendulum.  At first, I thought it meant turn it from right to left, like a clock.  However, that was so absolutely not the right direction.  I sat and thought and thought and thought until I realized that unscrewing the nut lowered the weight of the pendulum, which would make the pendulum swing slower.  If I screwed the nut tighter on the stem of the pendulum, the mass would be raised (shortened) and it would swing faster.  Swinging faster would move the clock works faster and, thus, increase the running of the clock.

The articles I read talked about adjusting your clock on its weekly wind.  But with it losing around 12 minutes a day—my adjustments to correct the time make it impossible to know just how much it was losing—I wasn't willing to spend weeks correcting the clock's time.  After all, I can see it from my sofas!

I learned that one-half turn is about 30 seconds in a weeks running of a pendulum clock.  When I first started adjusting the clock, I thought I had taken a big swing at the running (yes, I watch NASCAR), but the clock was still slow.  I had to redefine "big."  It started with two tentative adjustments, which I thought were substantial.  They were not.  Then I took three big swings at it, adjusting the clock in the evening and then waiting to see where the time was after I woke up for the day.  The last swing was a bit too far as my father's clock started running too fast!  A part of me was glad to see that, especially since I am not a clock repairman and have been tackling this timing problem with much fear and trepidation. 

Today, all I did was adjust the time, not the pendulum. I wanted to live with the last change to see if it being slightly off was a function of my not setting the time properly yesterday or if it is still a wee bit to fast.  The clock seems to be about 90 seconds too fast ... or 90 seconds set improperly.

I thought for a long time about what day of the week I would like to chose for the winding of the clock.  I mean, it was wound in the shop on a Tuesday, but that day doesn't have to be my winding day.  I finally settled on Sunday, because my father, like myself, was a lover of football.

Opening the face to either set the time or wind the clock, makes the clock shift on the wall.  Since part of having a pendulum clock run properly is having the works hung level, this causes a bit of a problem.  I would like to figure out a way to put in something discrete (like a push pin) that will stop the clock from moving.  For now, I drew a pencil line on the wall to give me a guide as to where the clock should be hanging.

The clock repairman spent quite a bit of time with me in the shop teaching me how to hang the clock.  You need to first hang it level with a level guide, but then you also need to listen to the TICK TOCK. It must also be "level," or perhaps "even" might be a better word.  It must sound as if there is equal weight and time spent on the TICK and the TOCK.  If one seems stronger than the other, then that will affect the time.  This is because the works of your clock might be slightly off from the frame of your clock.  So, for example, on my clock, if you hang it with the level bubble slightly to the left of the window on the level guide, then the TICK TOCK will sound even.

Of course, walls can also affect how a clock is hung as both old and new construction can be off as well.  Houses are rarely built fully plumb (I think that is the right term).  In my house, I noticed that whilst the level bubble still needed to be to the left on the window, it did not need to be as much to the left as it needed to be on the shop wall.

Who ever knew that owning a pendulum clock could be so very complicated!

What is not complicated?  Going to Wendy's today after 4:00 PM.  A portion of all proceeds after 4:00 PM will be going toward helping foster care children find forever homes.  I love that Wendy's supports adoption so publicly and oft puts its money where its figurative mouth is.  Having fries and a junior bacon cheeseburger is not a difficult thing to do to support foster care adoption.  Thousands and thousands and thousands of children in America need loving homes, need permanent families.  If you are a health nut, have a salad.  Or bring a frosty to a less-than-healthy-guru friend.